Sheffield Wednesday: Owls praying for a change in fortune

The Owls have been hampered by severe injuries to hugely important players and red cards to those on the pitch and the sidelines. There has also been a missed penalty and several instances of Wednesday dominating games but finding goalkeepers and defences in inspired form or being denied by the woodwork.

Now, coming out of the international break, there are expected to be a couple more players coming back from injury, following Tom Lees’ return from the treatment table for the defeat to Reading and there is a hope in the camp that their luck could turn.

Ahead of Saturday’s crucial South Yorkshire derby with Barnsley at Oakwell, Jack Hunt recognises that the team can perform better than they have shown, in a sequence of fixtures that has reaped just one win in six games.

“The rub of the green is not going for us at the moment,” he said. “We can do better but I just think we need a little bit of luck to turn the results around.”

Head coach Carlos Carvalhal had echoed that, believing that results had not told the story of how they have been playing.

“I believe we have been very unlucky in games – at Aston Villa we played well, even after going down to ten men,” he said. “I still do not know how we did not score against Reading, but this is football.

“So now we have had the break, some players have recovered and this is very encouraging.”